Smoky Mountains Sunrise

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Santorum: NH (and SC) Has To Make The Right Choice

Former Senator takes questions from Concord Christian Academy students; voters.

From BedfordPatch
By Tony Schinella



In front of about 60 people, including students from Concord Christian Academy, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum was peppered with a number of questions about his presidential campaign on Oct. 10.

For nearly two hours, Santorum spoke about his plans to revitalize manufacturing and grow the economy, his plan to keep taxes low, to repeal “Obamacare,” a pledge of support for Israel, and keep the government out of people’s lives while at the same time, preserving life and defunding Planned Parenthood.



However, one overarching theme from the candidate and attendees who praised him, was that he was a person who never waivered from his conservative beliefs. Many thanked him for taking principled, conservative positions and that were formed by his deep convictions even though they might not be popular. Santorum said the fact that he was principled had helped him win four out of five elections in a historically blue state that Republican presidential candidates have not won in more than two decades.

“So what you’ll hear from me, and I hope you heard from me today, is someone who’s comfortable talking about all the issues,” he said, “who understands all the issues, and actually provided leadership during my time in the Congress, on all the issues.”

Michael Eutis, a Concord Christian Academy student from Weare, asked Santorum how the deficit could be solved while lowering taxes. The deficit, he said, was a concern for him and many other students he knew who liked to talk politics and study public policy. Eutis said he tried to tailor his answer to what Santorum would say but instead, just asked the question his own way.

“I thought that it was comprehensive and he detailed what I thought was a logically way to fix the deficit,” he said.

Eutis said he was looking forward to meeting other candidates campaigning at the school, since many were invited, according to Dean Whiteway, the school’s headmaster.

Other attendees who didn’t want to reveal their names publicly said they were impressed with the candidate.

Frank of Concord, who had just had a recent operation on his left foot, asked about repealing Obamacare and was happy with the answer Santorum gave him.

“I still remain leery about the necessity of overturning this bill,” he said. “The most simple way I can put it is, I believe that there is a tyranny on us. It is a tyranny that will adversely affect the quality of our life and that is primarily what I’m concerned about. I know it will be a disincentive to research, to finding new drugs, new procedures, new treatments … I know that I will likely be denied health care, that I will lose the freedom to choose.”

A local woman with children at the school said she appreciated many of his positions including concerns about the United Nations usurping American sovereignty. She said the mainstream media wasn’t covering his campaign because they knew he could win and actually get into the White House and change things.

“The media is petrified of him,” she said, “because he has won all these elections. He’s a true conservative and even if you don’t agree with him, he always means what he says and says what he means … I’ve been following him for a long time and he never changes his principles.”


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Rick Santorum is a gutsy, principled and very likable fellow. Wish I could support him but I just can't overlook his fervent pro-war stance and some of his pro-big government ideas.

It's such a pity that this otherwise pro-life, pro-family candidate can't wait to get us into war with Iran.